It's Murder On The Dance Floor
by downwivluv
Summary: AU: Rachel is a Ballet. Puck is Hip Hop. When their partners get eliminated from So You Think You Can Dance they must dance together no matter how much they hate each other. Can music bring them together or will there be murder on the dance floor? Prompt from starfishdancer on the LJ Puck/Rachel drabble meme.


She is completely and utterly devastated when Jesse gets eliminated. Rachel believed that they were a sure bet to make it to the final, they were some of the most highly skilled dancers in the competition. But she supposes it was his arrogance that was his down fall, he didn't really come across very well on the television on a more personal level, and if the fans can't relate to you then you are as good as gone.

The other massive shock of the night is the elimination of Brittney. She really thought it would have been her gone, dragged into the backlash against Jesse. Brittney is an amazing dancer; Rachel will admit (reluctantly) that she is an even better dancer then herself. Brittney is what could be described as a special snowflake, the girl danced to her own beat in every aspect of her life. It's just that some family groups didn't really agree with her 'alternate' lifestyle and sometimes what could be construed as politically incorrect tweets about her cat.

This unfortunate twist of fate has meant a change in her dance partner. This worries Rachel as she believed her and Jesse to be basically the same person, they were on the same wavelength, moving as one. Her new dance partner on the other hand… well let's just call the two of them chalk and cheese.

xXx

The first time she met Noah Puckerman was at the Vegas week call backs. She caught him blatantly staring at her ass as she was warming up. She's a ballerina; she's worked hard for this body, made sacrifices to achieve her physical perfection. She knows her legs and ass are out of this world but that does not give him the right to gawk at her derrière like she's some porn star putting on a personal show for him.

"Do you mind?' She snaps, frustrated at his lack of tact. Rachel turns around to fully face him getting a good view for the first time. He is absolutely gorgeous, there is denying the fact that the man has clearly won the genetic lottery but they way he's dressed. Clothes can say a lot about a person, how you appear outwardly reflects how people will perceive you. His clothes scream man-child, and she knows about dressing like a child when you have clearly passed the age of acceptable, just ask to see he high school year book. This handsome man-child has his baseball cap angled to one side like he thinks he's Eminem, his jeans are so baggy that he might as well not be wearing pants for all good they are doing as actual pants, scruffy looking shoes that appear to have once been sneakers and to top it all off a skin tight white wife beater. He looks like a poor man's Channing Tatum in her opinion, and that makes him a Kevin Federline with less 'bling'.

"Not at all babe." He says with a lecherous smirk on his face and rubbing his hand together.

"Just enjoyin' your technique there." He says with that same damn smirk on his face walking closer towards her. Rachel stands her ground; she's not going to give this imbecile the satisfaction of seeing her reaction to his advances. Rachel is the master of the stone face.

"Name's Puck Princess, what's yours?" Puck rests one arm on the wall behind Rachel and maneuvers his body around hers so she is now trapped up against the wall. She had now idea how they got this way as she was concentrating on playing the ice queen. But the façade cracks as soon he tells her his name.

"Puck? Your name is really Puck? Were your parents' fans of Shakespeare because that is the only reason why your parent would choose such a ridiculous name for their child" Cool, calm, collected, that's her, not high on the scent of this 'Puck'. Puck who smells like a man should, not like the absolute tool he represents him self as. Not one whiff of that Axe body spray she despises.

Puck looks a bit unsettled at her response. He's clearly not used to girls not falling for his charms instantaneously. Rachel can spot at least five girls in their close vicinity who happen to be sending looks her way that lets her know that they would kill to be in her poison.

"It's Noah," He mumbles out shuffling his feet a bit and looking down. He's lost some of his swagger. "Puck's a nick name coz my last names Puckerman."

"Noah is a much nicer name then Puck." Rachel replies stiffly. As cute as he is, she's here to win So You Think You Can Dance not hook up.

"You gonna tell me you name or am I gonna have to keep on calling you Princess?" Puck says gaining some of his lost swagger back.

"It's Rachel. Rachel Berry." She replies slipping under his arm to escape his close proximity. She turns to face him once again from a safe distance, hands on hips.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I would like to continue my warm up."

"I can help warm you up babe." His confident smirk back again as he walks over and smacks her ass. There and then she decides, no matter how ridiculously good looking she once thought he was, this will never beat out how much she despises him in this moment.

xXx

She really doesn't see him much again during Vegas week, only during his performance pieces really. Rachel is classically trained in ballet so she knows as much about hip hop as she does about neuroscience. From the little she saw of him he seemed to move well, not as well as some of the others but well enough for her to admit he has the potential to become a good dancer and maybe even a potential threat.

They do some work in pares and she is partnered up with a handsome Asian man named Wes. He's an alright dancer but far to stiff to really open him self up to other styles of dance, and this is coming from a ballerina. Wes doesn't make it past day two.

They are divided up at one point into groups of five to create and perform a group number they have choreographed themselves. One of the girls in her group Harmony is a version of her on steroids. The girl is a dance Nazi and total spotlight hog. She's eliminated day three for her inability to work with others, Harmony throws the biggest temper tantrum Rachel has ever seen and she's seen old footage of John McEnroe.

Day four is when she meets Finn Hudson for the first time. He's cute in that all-American boy kind of way and he can be very sweet if not a little naive at times. She thinks she would have fallen head over heels for him if the circumstances had have been different. Rachel's attracted to talent and Finn has none what-so-ever in the dance department. Everyone is confused as to why he's there or how he even made it this far, then the rumor surfaces. He's the nephew of William Schuster the brilliant Broadway choreographer who the producers have been trying to woo to work with them since they 'decided not to work with this season' aka fired Dekota Stanley their former Broadway expert.

As they cut more and more dancers she can practically taste the Top 20, she can feel it in her bones, and also she's just a little bit psychic.

xXx

When the Top 20 is announced she's only just a little bit surprised to see Puck there. He must be more of a threat then she once thought, but she can't just focus all her energy on just one person, she has nineteen people to crush before she is announced the rightful winner. Even though one of these boys will be her partner, someone she needs to trust to a degree, they are just one more person she will need to destroy.

The first person she really gets to know is Jesse as he is her partner. She soon discovers he is the male equivalent of her. He calls himself a jazz dancer but has trained in every style of dance that there is a class for. Jesse tells her that if he wants to be number one at whatever he is doing he can't prepare for it by halves.

The next person she really talks to is a fiery Latina and Latin Ballroom dancer Santana, who seems to enjoy throwing thinly veiled insults her way and winding her up. Rachel gets to meet Sam, Santana's partner, after she is almost knocked to the ground when Santana pushes past her in a hurry. Sam has dirty blond hair and lips to rival Lisa Reiner's, he tells Rachel that he is a Tap dancer and one time stripper lifting up his shirt to show off his abs.

She feels sorry for poor Sunshine a fellow Ballerina even shorter then her self. The girl has the misfortune of being paired with Finn who has to be at least three times her size. Nobody really has any idea of Finn's style. He declares himself as a Hip Hop dancer, but Rachel hears Puck mutter under his breath about Finn being more of a flip flop dancer.

Puck's partner Brittney claims to be self taught and dances to the rhythm of life but will admit to having stolen some of her best moves from her morbidly obese cat who had apparently trained under Fred Astaire. Her poor Hip Hop dancer partner looks worried at this.

Quinn is a Contemporary dancer and complete ice queen. She's very aloof and closed off with everyone, Rachel thinks if she doesn't show some emotion when she dances that she won't make the finals, no matter how good a dancer she is. Quinn is paired up with Sebastian a ballroom dancer who makes a Viennese Waltz far more sexual then it really is. He's snarky and rude to everyone, yet at the same time it seems like he's making a pass at you. They are both ridiculously good looking, Quinn in that Miss USA kind of way and Sebastian looks like a One Direction reject.

Rory is another Ballroom dancer from Ireland with a brilliant smile and Rachel can not understand a word he says for the life of her. Sugar his partner is a loud obnoxious girl who claims to have aspergers to get away with insulting others. Sugar claims to be a genius and revolutionary with her new style of dance called Strip-Hop.

Rachel adores Blaine, a Broadway/Jazz dancer and absolute daring with a thing for bow ties and using far too much hair gel. She feels she could actually be genuine friends with him and that if the country loves him as much as she does then she has some serious competition. Tina is also a Jazz dancer. She dresses like the Goth clique at her high school did with blue streaks in her hair but yet is completely forgettable. She barely remembers meeting her.

Then there's Joe, a contemporary dancer with some of the longest dreadlocks she's ever seen. Joe has never danced while wearing shoes which he's worried will cause problems when he dances different styles. He's partnered with Mercedes a Lyrical Hip Hop dancer who goes around telling any one who will listen how great she is and that she is 'the Beyonce of the dance world'.

Then there is Matt, whose specialty is popping. She's never heard him utter a single word with out prompting. Rachel thinks that his shyness could be his downfall. Lauren his partner says Capoeira is her specialty but also enjoys Ballroom. Rachel has no clue how those two styles mesh but each to their own.

The last pair is the oddest couple yet. Dave is a solid young man who looks like he is more suited to the football field then the dance floor. One time he confides in her that while he may be a Break dancer he really loves to Swing dance but was scared to do so in fear of being called gay by his friends, Rachel suggests Swap, a mix of Swing and Hip-Hop. And then there's Unique, who is well… unique. No body is really sure is Unique is a man or a woman. The Jazz-Funk dancer is lovely though so none of them bring up the question of Unique's gender in fear of offending her (?).

Rachel believes she has a good grasp on her competition. She knows who to watch out for talent wise and who to look out for in the fan favorite vote.

xXx

A love triangle quickly brews back stage, well it's more of a love rhombus/square/rectangle/some other four sided shape.

See Sebastian likes Blaine and is not afraid to let him know, but Blaine seems completely oblivious to Sebastian's advances as he's too busy staring at Kurt who is in charge of wardrobe, and then there is Dave who also stares at Kurt longingly but is clearly to shy and insecure in his own sexuality to make a move. While Kurt hasn't noticed Dave's longing looks Rachel knows Kurt is interested in Blaine and may have picked up on his interest too, as she caught him burning holes into the back of Blaine's head with love struck eyes as he hid behind a costume rack.

She relays all this back to Jesse who tells her to stay out of that mess and just focus on her. Rachel tells him she wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole.

xXx

Finn brings a lot of controversy to the show right way. The public out cry of his complete ineptitude at dancing confuses them as to why he is even there. Then that rumor from Vegas week resurfaces on twitter and people call for him to be booted off or claim the producers are corrupt and the show is clearly fixed.

When Finn is eliminated in week one with Lauren, he throws a massive temper tantrum in the green room. Rachel thinks that he and Harmony would have gotten along quite well. In his Hulk like rage Finn completely destroys the green room Sebastian takes some pictures of the room after filming Finn being carted off by security and posts both video and pictures on his twitter/facebook/tumblr. They're viral before midnight.

xXx

Rachel knows as the weeks go on people are eliminated and others have new partners. This is how the game goes, she knows that. She just didn't expect to loose her partner so early in the series.

Jesse and Brittney are eliminated WEEK THREE. Rachel expected Tina and Matt last week, she predicted Joe and Sugar this week not Jesse.

She really did not expect to be in an elimination so soon but people really hadn't taken to Jesse the way she did. The forums are full of how he is so full of himself and that he didn't deserve a partner like Rachel. She's touched that the fans love her.

But then it hits her hard and fast while she's still on that stage watching Cat Deeley talk to Jesse and Brittney. Puck is her new partner. She has to dance with Noah 'Puck' Puckerman every week until they reach the Top 10. She just looks over at him as she comes to this realisation. He looks just as excited for this as she does. They have managed to avoid each other since that fateful day in Vegas. Rachel knows he's thinking back to that day too.

xXx

"_Now if you'll excuse me, I would like to continue my warm up."_

"_I can help warm you up babe." His confident smirk back again as he walks over and smacks her ass._

Rachel's frozen in shock for a moment. Nobody, and she means NOBODY, had ever treated her this way before and Rachel Berry is not about to let some jumped up, two bit, Kevin Federline wannabe smack her behind like a cheap floozy in an Akon video.

She pivots around quickly to face him, raises her hand and with all the strength she can muster slaps him across the face. The noise her hand makes when it collides with his face is so loud that it silences the entire room. Everyone is looking at them.

"Don't you dare touch me!" Rachel spits out in fury. She maybe little but she refuses to let some boy bully her. Puck, who is rubbing his cheek freshly adorned with a tiny hand print, just raises his hand in surrender and slowly backs away from her like you would a wild animal.

"Fine by me Princess!" Puck snaps at her as he slinks away.

xXx

They sit down alone together for the first time in the remodeled green room after the show.

"So…" Rachel starts trying to be the bigger person here. It's not an ideal situation but it's one she can work with, they just need to move past Vegas. Puck takes off his baseball cap and runs his hand over his mohawk.

"Yeah so… Um… I'm sorry for slapping your butt." He mumbles out. Rachel thinks he's not used to having to apologise to people.

"I forgive you. I'm sorry for slapping you in the face. It was uncalled for and unlady like of me to have done so." She replies. Rachel thinks it's going rather well but really she spoke too soon.

"It's cool and all. If I'd know you were such a prude I would've left you alone. I mean you're pretty hot and stuff but so not worth the effort." Rachel's blood boils. How dare he? Who does he think he is?

"I am not a prude!" Rachel cries. Her voice is two octaves higher then it should be.

"Just because I am not one of your cheap floozies who would sleep with you after one of your lame lines does not make me a prude!" She's really getting worked up now.

"You're kind of hot when you're mad. I would have rocked your world." He says coolly totally unfazed by her.

"I would never in a million years sleep with you! You probably have some STD or several!"

"Hey! I'm clean!"

"And all this macho showmanship is you way of over compensating!"

"I have nothing to over compensate for baby!" He grabs his crouch at this.

"I'd call you a Neanderthal but that would be an insult to them!" Rachel says marching towards the door and wrenching it open.

"I really don't care about your opinion any way babe! Hey! Maybe you just need a good lay to loosen you up a bit prude!" He's followed her out the door and their argument has continued out in the corridor in front of the green room.

"You know what? Guys, who talk about sex all the time like you do, tend to not actually be getting any!"

"I get heaps of girls!"

As the two continue to fight they fail to notice the audience they've gathered.

"I'd bet good money that two week is how long they last." Santana says to Quinn and Sebastian.

"In the competition? You really think their fighting will be that bad?" Quinn says.

"No, two weeks till they fuck Q." Sebastian comes back with.

"That's not fighting," Santana retorts.

"That's sexual tension."

xXx

When Rachel reads out the dance style printed on the slip of paper she feels her heart sink. Pop n' Lock. She has to Pop n' Lock. Puck is jumping around the stage fist pumping and cheering and she is just standing there dumb struck.

Nigel's told her that he doesn't think she's very edgy. That he believes she will struggle when it comes to street styles and even the Latin Ballroom because she's too cute. Cute? CUTE? Rachel Berry is more then cute! She's a New Yorker, you don't get by on cute there, they eat cute alive.

She swallows the lump forming in her throat and decides to prove Nigel wrong. Mary may have also have said something about her not being edgy too but that woman is incoherent more then half the time.

Rachel's going to have to learn to Pop or Isolate or whatever the hell it is you do.

xXx

They meet choreographer Mike Chang who is going to teach them their routine. He's tall and lanky, very charming and has a wicked sense of humor.

He runs through the basics of Popping for them showing them some simple moves to start off with so the get the feel of the style. Rachel feels ridiculous, the closest she's ever done to this is a pretty basic robot that only comes out at family functions when every one has had a bit too much to drink.

She and Puck are still not on speaking terms after their last fight but they have declared a truce for today, well Rachel has, she doesn't know about Puck because they're not speaking.

Rachel thinks their first session is going really well for two people who currently aren't speaking. And she has to admit their resolve is breaking under Mike's constant criticism of them not connecting.

"I'm sorry… again." Rachel says quietly to Puck during a brief moment the cameras are not filming

"Me too." Puck says somewhat begrudgingly. The cameras start rolling again and they try and make like they are the best of friends. Rachel also tries not to think about the little electric feel she gets down her spine every time Puck touches her.

Things are going rather smoothly now, Mike is happy that they finally are dancing as one and are no longer frosty but he has issues with Rachel.

"You're too ridged." Mike states plainly.

"Ridged?" Rachel's not ridged she's… poised.

"You dance like ya got a stick up your ass babe." An amused Puck says.

"I could totally help you loosen up though. I'd totally 'pop' you." He's moved up behind her now and made some sort of crude grinding action. Rachel thinks Puck has learnt nothing from the last time and is a glutton for punishment. Mike begins slowly backing away from the pair when he sees the look on Rachel's face. It's a look of pure unadulterated rage. Rachel bends over calmly and takes off her right shoe and does her, what now seems to be, signature pivot to face a very confused Puck. Before Puck can even register what is going on Rachel has began to clobber Puck with her shoe.

"YOU COMPLETE AND UTTER DEPRAVED IGNARAMUS! HOW ARE YOU NOT IN PRISION YET?"

"Ow! What the fuck?! You crazy psycho!"

"I AM PERFECTLY SANE! HOW DARE YOU IMPLY-"

"Stop hittin' me woman!"

"WOMAN? WOMAN? YOU MISOGANISTIC JERK!"

"You on your rag? Geez, STOP HITTING ME!"

All of this is of course caught on camera, and yeah it makes the video package before their routine, including the footage of poor Mike cowering in the corner.

xXx

"Well you're both certainly passionate." Mia Michaels comments after their routine.

"You both really channeled you rage very well. It's going to be interesting to watch you attempt softer styles" Mia keeps looking between the two like she suddenly expects them to break out fighting for no reason what so ever. Puck and Rachel are standing next to each other, breathing hard after their routine. Rachel has to admit this wasn't her best performance technique wise but she felt so alive. She used all that anger in her dance and she thinks it made it a better performance.

"I'm just worried that Puck won't be versatile enough for other styles. Sure you excel at street styles, but I want more from you. And Rachel, I'm starting to see you dark side in your dance but as we saw for your package there is a feisty girl in under that leotard and tulle."

xXx

The fans LOVE them. No other couple in the history of the show has publicly displayed their dislike for their own partner before and the public are nuts for it. Overnight hundreds of threads appear in the forum discussing them. People call them Puckleberry and want them to marry and have babies, when Rachel shows Puck this; he is completely freaked out but at the same time finds it hilarious.

"This is some of the creepiest shit I have ever read Berry." Puck laughs as he scrolls through a thread on Rachel's laptop.

"This is a good thing Noah!" Rachel exclaims.

"We can use this to our advantage. This competition is about finding America's favorite dancer, and if they love us together I say we use it."

"What are you talking about Princess?" Puck shifts the computer off his legs and on to Rachel's bed.

"I'm saying we exploit the public's love of us! I'm calling a truce. I promise that I won't overreact to your comments any more and lash out, if you promise to treat me like a sexual object." Puck considers her offer for a moment and then sticks out his hand to her.

"Deal." They shake on their agreement, both desperately trying to ignore the sparks they feel when touching and what those sparks mean.

xXx

Sugar and Joe get the boot that week. Rachel thinks that her psychic abilities must have been a week out. Sugar tells anyone who'll listen to her that she will just get her daddy to buy the network and make her the winner, nobody cares.

When Rachel and Puck find out that they are safe this week and won't have to be dancing for their lives they loose their heads for a moment and hug in public, both jumping back like they've been burned once they realise what they are doing. Just because they called a truce doesn't mean their relationship is at the hugging stage.

Rachel sees a gif of that moment on Tumblr that night; she's not sure how she feels about that.

xXx

She let's Puck choose the slip of paper that will determine what they dance this week, his face crumples when he reads it what's written. A lump forms in Rachel's throat.

"Contemporary" He grunts out and her heart saws. Rachel lets out a little squeal and jumps up and down on the spots clapping her hands. Puck sends her a dirty look; she grabs his arm smiling up at him.

"Don't worry; I'm going to teach you EVERYTHING I know."

"That's what I was afraid of."

xXx

Emma Pillsbury has eyes like a Bush Baby. Rachel finds this super distracting and Puck is completely creeped out by it. Emma has choreographed a routine to Avril Lavigne's 'Hot' wanting to draw on Puck's Hip-Hop strengths and their 'chemistry'. Rachel has no idea what she means by 'chemistry' but she adores the routine, the story is that she is an obsessive admire of Puck's character and she aggressively peruses him while he struggles with if he really likes her or just the attention.

"Puckerone is used to that kind of attention babe. I can totally nail this." Puck says throwing in a body roll aimed at Rachel.

"I really don't think that your long history of promiscuous behavior will really be of any benefit to your dancing on this occasion. Also you totally stole that move from Sam!" Rachel says scrunching up her nose.

"Whatever Princess, I know you love this body!"

"Maybe we should start going over the routine?" Emma cuts in meekly. Things go from bad to worse, Rachel is able to pick up the moves with ease, appearing to dance as if she were floating on air, Puck on the other hand is giving a Finn a run for his money. He's slow and jerky with is movements, his posture is terrible and worst of all for Rachel, Puck keeps missing all his catches and drops her in their lifts. Emma begins to see the warning signs of a melt down from both of them. She received a call a few days before she was due to meet Puck and Rachel from Mike Chang warning her about the pair and giving what little advice he could so she would not suffer like he did.

"How about we break for today?" Emma says in a calm voice.

"We are all tired and stressed. Plus learning a new skill can be frustrating at the best of times, so maybe can away for today and practice on our own away from the cameras?"

"Maybe that's a good idea." Rachel could really use a break, also she doesn't want the entire world seeing her hit Puck with her shoe again (over one million hits on YouTube and still counting).

"Whatever." Grumbles Puck kicking a chair, for some reason this makes Rachel think of Finn and she can't think why.

"And this song blows chunks too!" He bites out as he exits the dance studio.

xXx

"Why don't you try being Noah rather than Puck?" Rachel says to Puck that night, she sits down beside him on one of the couches in the common areas of the house.

"What cha talkin' about Crazy." Puck mumbles not making eye contact.

"Well Puck is this bad boy street dancer. He's tough, a womaniser, and he puts up walls." Rachel explains.

"Where you goin' with this?" Rachel can tell she's losing Puck but refuses to give up just yet.

"Act like Noah. I saw you with your mother and sister when they came to the show in the first week. You were a completely different person. Be Noah and be vulnerable for once in your life. Be the sweet, kind, caring guy I saw with his family. Contemporary dance is about showing a softer side. Puck for Hip Hop and Noah for Contemporary. Change your mind set Noah." She gives his leg a gentle pat and gets up off the couch leaving Puck to think.

xXx

They are trying to get some practice in without Emma or any of the camera crews around. Rachel would just like five minutes of rehearsal time where she doesn't feel like she has to be performing two ways. And even though she and Puck may not get along she can tell he wants time away from the pressure as well. They both came to this competition because they loved to dance and it's being to feel less and less fun to dance these days.

"I CAN'T DO THIS!" Puck yells all of a sudden making Rachel jump.

"Let's face it I'm a loser who can't dance!" Puck slumps against one studio walls, his head in his hands.

"If you couldn't dance then you wouldn't still be here!" Rachel snaps back at him.

"Finn made it pretty far!"

"And we all know why!" Rachel walks over to where Puck is sitting and crouches down in front of him.

"Look Noah, you are far more talented then you give yourself credit for." Rachel says soothingly.

"You're just a bit unpolished that's all."

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Puck asks looking up at her.

"I don't know. Let's go over the dance once more and I'll try and show you some ballet technique." Rachel says standing up en pointe.

"That looks painful." Puck says standing up next to Rachel.

"Oh it only hurts at the beginning. You've never really danced till you've had to wash the blood off your feet!"

"BLOOD?!"

xXx

They're waiting back stage while the video package is playing, Rachel feels someone grab her hand.

"I just wanted to say thank you." Puck says sincerely to her.

"It's ok Noah, helping you, helps me." She says smiling.

"No really Rachel. Thank you for helping me so much, especially with our rocky past. No one has ever believe in me or even tried so hard to help me out." Puck says giving her a small smile. Rachel doesn't get a chance to respond as they are quickly ushered on stage.

xXx

"I don't like the song choice to go with this style, but I thought both of you did brilliantly at it. Puck you have come so far in this competition. I think that Rachel has been a wonderful influence on your dancing. Same for you Rachel, you seem freer in your dancing. Watching you both now compared to the start of this competition, well you wouldn't think it was the same dancers." Rachel looks over at Puck and smiles at what Nigel has said and gives him a gentle punch in the shoulder.

xXx

They say goodbye to Sunshine and Rory that week. Rachel was quietly confident this week, also she's been trolling the chat rooms again and the fans are still crazy about them. Plus there are now rumors that they're sleeping together because of "the intimate chemistry" when they dance. Strangely Rachel feels ok with people thinking that.

xXx

It's week 6, they've made it half way through the competition. It means they now have to perform two different dances from now on, but it also means they change partners every week. Rachel doesn't want to dance without Noah, she's kind of gotten attached to him and she's going to miss him always hitting on her. There's a little part of her that really likes him, and that little part could, and it's a big could, turn into love one day.

So when Noah is paired with Quinn and Rachel with Blaine she tries to ignore the crushing disappointment she feels in her chest. She just counts her blessings that she didn't get paired up with Sebastian; he was much better suited to Santana.

xXx

"Have you asked Kurt out yet?" Rachel asks Blaine while they are practicing their Foxtrot.

"Have you told Puck you like him yet?" Blaine quips back. Rachel's eyes widen in shock.

"It's not exactly a secret Rach. You and Puck had chemistry." Blaine says with a soft smile.

"I-I-I…" Rachel's lost for words. She had only figured out that she liked Noah about a day ago and now Blaine is saying he's seen more from the start. It's a lot to wrap her head around.

xXx

"Quinn's a fuckin' bitch." Noah declares as he drops down next to her on her bed that evening. Rachel giggles at his dramatics.

"Why would you say that Noah?"

"That girl is icier then the North Pole. She probably has the North Pole up her ass!" Noah laments to Rachel sending her into fits of laughter.

"She kept telling me not to touch her! Fine! She can catch herself in the jumps and lift herself up! Stuck up bitch! Oh and to top off an even crappier week one of our dances is disco! DISCO!" Puck flops back on her bed pouting after his little outburst.

"Aww bubbie!" Rachel squishes his face in-between her hands as she lies down next to him.

"Don't mock me! She's a crappy partner. But then again she's getting compared to you Princess." He says rolling on his side to face her.

"Really? You like dancing with me more than her? But she's so pretty."

"She could be Miss U.S.A but wouldn't hide her ugly personality, 'side babe you're smokin' hot." Rachel blushes at this.

"You got a tight little body there. Your ass is out of this world!"

"Noah!"

"I bet you could bounce a quarter off it!" Noah sits up and walks towards her bedroom door.

"Where are you going Noah?"

"I'm gonna see if Sam has any quarters!" Noah says excitedly as he bounds out the door. Rachel just bursts into a fit of giggles at this. Blaine sticks his head in Rachel's room giving her a look that clearly says "I told you so!"

"Shut up Blaine!" Rachel yells throwing a pillow at the door.

xXx

After the elimination show that week, where Dave and Unique (who actually turned out to be a very nice but shy boy called Wade), Rachel checks the fan forums again. It's full of fans demanding that "Puckleberry", now trending on twitter, should be paired up every week.

There are some not very nice things written about Quinn being a home wrecker, even though there is actually no home for her to wreck, Blaine is relatively unscathed but Rachel thinks it's because he's gay and deemed a non threat to "Puckleberry".

Rachel grabs her iPhone and decides to give the fans just a little something. She finds Puck sitting alone in the common area playing Angry Birds on his phone. Rachel rushes over to him and snaps a picture of her pressing her lips to his cheek and scurries out the door again yelling a quick thanks over her shoulder.

"… the hell?" She hears Noah grunt out as she rounds the corner.

xXx

Rachel Berry

BerryStars

I miss this goof puckzilla #SYTYCD #Puckleberry 4XX7laVO

Puck can't help but smile at this.

xXx

This week Rachel gets paired with Sam, who is perfectly nice but is not Noah.

Sam doesn't make the same funny comments that she knows Noah would about the Bollywood routine they are meant to perform to some Madonna song that just doesn't fit. Or about their crazy choreographer Sue Sylvester who keeps standing in front of them while they dance shouting things like "YOU THINK THIS IS HARD? TRY WATCHING MEL GIBSON'S ENTIRE CATALOGUE! THAT'S HARD!" through a megaphone at them. She may even miss the feel of his hands on her body when dancing.

xXx

Rachel's sad to see Blaine go but she's happy he finally asked Kurt out. She caught them making out in a dark corner at the goodbye party they are having for Blaine and Quinn.

"Get a room!" She hears Noah yell from behind her. The boys jump apart blushing furiously. Rachel sees Sebastian scowling at the happy couple. She would feel a little bad for him if she didn't think he was such an asshole.

Noah catches her eye and motions her over to him.

"Did ya ever think all those weeks ago you'd be in the top 6?" Noah asks.

"I hoped I would. I was never very popular in high, and this competition is partly about how popular you are."

"I think you're pretty badass babe. Who cares about all those losers in high school? Are they on TV every week? Do they have fans? Hell no! I bet they're all still stuck back in your hometown working dead end jobs hatin' their shitty little lives. Look at you! You're a fuckin' star!" Noah declares. This time Rachel doesn't try and ignore the warm glow in her chest.

xXx

"Rachel" Noah reads out. She lets out an ear piercing squeal and jumps into his arms. She doesn't care what people think of her behaving this way, her and Noah are going to dance together again! Her heart swells just at the thought. He wraps his arms around her waist and spins her around in a circle on the spot.

"Miss me that much Princess" Noah whispers in her ear.

"You have no idea." She whispers back.

"I was worried I might have to dance with Sebastian."

"Don't worry babe, you avoided crab boy another week."

"Crab boy?"

"You know Sebastian, like that singin' crab in the Disney movie"

"Really Noah?"

xXx

Rachel hadn't realised that the Samba was so… sensual. Ok she knew it was a very sensual dance, it's romantic and sexy the way Latin ballroom is, but this just seems like more.

Noah's hands are moving over her body making it hard for her to concentrate on anything. They're smooth and course at the same time; they are the kind of hands that make you feel safe, a good strong grip without the feeling of being manhandled. Rachel can't stop thinking about what Noah could do with those hands, she just wants him to throw her down on the practice room floor and show her what he can do. Rachel quickly shakes her head trying to rid herself of those thoughts. She knows it's never going to happen he doesn't feel that way about her, plus there are cameras and this isn't HBO.

Noah's breath is hot on the back of her neck is not helping one iota. Rachel really doesn't know how she's going to get through this week, plus she can't go soft on him just because she may have a teeny weeny little crush on him. Noah Puckerman is still her competition no matter how lovely she thinks his arms are.

xXx

When they first meet Will Schuster Rachel assumed that it must have been true, Finn was brought in to lure Will in. But as their rehearsal progresses she and Noah have a completely different theory about why he chose to work with the show.

"So you worked with Emma Pillsbury?" Will tries to slip casually into conversation, but it's about as subtle as a shot gun.

"Yeah." Noah really isn't interested in this conversation. He just wants to go over the damn step to their Broadway number to some song from Rock Horror not help this guy get his rocks off with red head Bambi.

"Did she say anything about me?" Will tries to dig for more information.

"We talk about the choreography. Could you go over that last part again?" Rachel replies, she's trying to be patient but it's beginning to piss her off that Will is trying to use them for personal gain. They need him in this competition and he doesn't seem to see past his personal affairs.

After a few more pointless questions about Emma Rachel calls for a break. The pair scurries away from Will as fast as possible to avoid any more questions.

"What a tool!" Noah huffs out taking a swig of water from his bottle.

"It is rather unprofessional. He really should concentrate on mentoring us and not how to get a date." Rachel concurs.

"I guess being a dick runs in the family." Noah mutters.

"NOAH!"

"Like you weren't thinking it too!" Noah says defensively. Rachel shoots him a smile and giggles. Noah lobs one arm around her shoulders and pulls her in close. He presses a quick kiss to her temple. Rachel tries to squish down the warm fuzzy feeling growing in her stomach.

"Come on guys!" Will call out to them clapping his hands together.

"Let's get back to work! I really want to impress Emma." Rachel doesn't even bother to hide her rolling eyes and Noah lets out a groan of frustration.

xXx

A security scare during the performance show really throws Rachel. A fan of hers who she has received hundreds to tweets and messages from decides to try and actually come and see her. Jacob Ben Israel, or JewFro if you want his online user name, is what one might be called a 'passionate' fan. As they do their usual opening routine were Cat introduces them and they do a little dance Jacob storms the stage running directly towards Rachel.

"I LOVE YOU RACHEL!" He shouts running. Rachel freezes; she is totally paralysed with fear. Suddenly she feels a strong arm wrap around her waist, Noah has grabbed her and puller her behind him.

"You ok?" He asks cupping her face and looking directly into her eyes.

"I'm fine Noah. Thank you" She says throwing her arms around his neck hugging him tightly.

"For you Princess, anything…"

She can see behind him that Jacob has been tackled to the ground by Shannon Beiste head of security and Ken Tanaka her number two. Rachel knows she shouldn't feel sorry for Jacob but he's just so small and skinny compared to the two security guards.

After Jacob has been taken away and ejected from the studio Shannon come up to her and pulls her into a bear hug. The thing about Beiste is that while she looks scary and tough as nails on the outside, she is really a big softy on the inside and really cares about everyone on the show.

"Don't you worry your pretty lil' head pumpkin. I'm so sorry that happened, but you got a good egg there in Puckerman. He really cares about you. Don't let him go." She coos in her soft southern drawl.

"I don't think he likes me like that." Rachel whispers.

"You're crazier than a cockroach on a cracker! That boy is mad about you! He wanted to protect you, hold on to that one sweetie." Rachel really can't help but hope Beiste is right. She looks out from back stage to the audience where she sees Brittney holding a yellow sign with 'PUCKLEBERRY' written in purple glitter; Rachel's going to take that sign as a literal sign.

xXx

The final four consists of herself, Noah, Santana and Sebastian. She can't believe she's made the final. She didn't think she was going to make it after Cassandra July had told her that she was an untalented little nobody and then proceeded to flirt with Noah. Yet here Rachel stands in the top four. If she wasn't such a big person she would hunt Cassandra July down and yell 'SUCK IT' to her face, but Rachel's better than that… just.

Her daddies call her up and tell her that they are inviting all family to fly out to California to watch her perform. They tell her that they are so proud of their little star going out in the world achieving her dreams.

"Oh and Star," Her daddy says just before she's about to hang up.

"Yes daddy?"

"We want to meet that nice young man of yours! You seem so much happier these days." Rachel's not quite sure what to say to that.

xXx

They've performed their solos. They've performed as a group. They've performed all possible combinations and now it's time to announce the winner.

Rachel doesn't know what she'll do if she doesn't win. She's never been a very good loser. Yet a part of her is rooting for Noah, he's worked so hard for of this, maybe even harder than her. Her heart is pounding against her chest and she tries to keep control of her breathing.

She thinks back over the week, with Santana and Sebastian pestering her about her and Noah's relationship status or if she let him 'bang' her yet. Rachel really didn't appreciate Santana yelling in her face that she had $50 riding on her having ridden Noah yet.

And she feels like she's dying, her heart feels erratic and is actually starting to hurt. Noah gives her hand a squeeze and a small smile for comfort. Her heart eases just a bit but now her legs feel like jelly. Rachel's terrified that she is going to make a fool of herself on national television.

"In fourth place…" Cat reads out, there's a nervous hush over the studio. Noah's grip on her hand gets tighter.

"Sebastian Smyth!" Sebastian gives the audience a sad smile and small wave and takes a step back. Rachel knows he's putting on a brave face but Sebastian is the kind of person who would punch Cat in the face to win, he's really devastated.

"In third place…" Rachel thinks she may actually vomit on TV. She's going to be an embarrassing viral YouTube video.

"Puck!" For a moment Rachel forgets that Puck is Noah. She hasn't called him that in ages. But then it hits her, Noah is out of the competition. Her heart that was once beating so wildly now feels like it's been stomped all over. He gives her a hug.

"I know you can win this Princess. You're a star…" Noah says quietly before stepping back to join Sebastian.

Santana takes a step closer to Rachel and takes her hand. And that's when it finally hits her that she could win this. She could actually be America's favorite dancer. Rachel was not popular at all in high school so to have made it this far makes that sad teenage girl inside her scream with joy.

"The winner of So You Think You Can Dance and America's favorite dancer is…" Santana is gripping her hand so hard it feels like she's trying to break it, but knowing Santana she may actually be trying to crush all the bones in her hand.

"SANTANA LOPEZ!" The pyrotechnics go off; glitter rain from the sky, Santana pulls her into a bone crushing hug and the proceeds to toss her back like a rag doll so she can bask in the spotlight. Rachel feels two strong arms steady her from behind. She looks up and sees Noah has caught her; he pulls her up and holds her close to his chest.

"Now we're not in competition I can do this." Noah slams his mouth over hers and Rachel just melts. His lips are as soft as she has imagined, and she has imagined his lips a lot. The kiss is soft and slow and romantic, the kind of kiss that makes you forget everything including the fact you're being filmed and that there is an angry Latina swearing black and blue in Spanish at you for stealing her thunder. Or the fact you know your Bubbie and all her friends at the retirement home she lives at are watching.

xXx

Rachel and Noah are curled up on a couch at the shows after party snuggling and watching all the people.

Kurt and Blaine are being all cute and perfect over in a corner. Sam is trying to impress Mercedes on the dance floor. Matt and Mike are pop n' locking on the dance floor while Tina stands by watching Mike like he hung the moon. Joe and Quinn a talking quietly by the door. Will is trying to chat up Emma who seems a bit star struck while Terri the caterer stares daggers at the red head. Rory is following Sugar all over the place like a lost puppy. Lauren has commandeered about half the food, taking about one bit out of everything and then putting it back. Unique is shaking her groove thing with Brittney and Sunshine. Finn is looking rather pathetic in the corner with Jesse. Santana is holding court with all of the media in another corner, lapping up every bit of attention she possibly can. And then there's Dave and Sebastian sitting o the other couch looking like a couple of scared teenagers on a first date, they seemed to have bonded over their mutual lost loves and found a love of their own.

"I reckon we should start singin' 'Kiss the girl' so one of them will damn well do something." Noah whispers in her ear while playing with the ends of her hair. Rachel lightly slaps his chest and giggles. Noah grabs her face gently kissing her again. She can hear the press making a commotion again as they quickly abandon Santana to take more photos of them kissing.

Rachel thinks to herself how she couldn't be happier. She may not have been America's favorite dancer but she's Noah's favorite everything and that's much better than winning some competition.

xXx

And yes the video does go viral.

And yes Santana NEVER lets her forget about it.


End file.
